Mou Chakraborty
January 18, 2010
Kolkata: At 12.30pm on Sunday, Ravi Das set out on an unusual journey from his Halisahar home. The man hit by polio pulled out his hand-driven tri-cycle and kept on paddling until he reached Peace Haven, where Jyoti Basu’s mortal remains have been kept.
The 35-year-old lottery seller cycled all the way alone. “He was the greatest Marxist leader of Bengal. I joined the party 15 years ago inspired by one of his speeches at Brigade Parade ground. The tricycle that helped me to come here was given to me by Jyotibabu,” said Das.
“The moment I heard that he has passed away, I knew that I must see him for one last time at any cost. Immediately, I brought out my cycle and started paddling. Even though there are supporters like me but Jyoti Babu’s death would definitely cost the party dear in the next Assembly election,” Das added.
During the course of his journey, Das survived on peanuts and slept at Sealdah Station all night. But the journey went in vain as police stopped him at the gate of Peace Haven. With moist eyes Das said, “Food and sleep is not important. It is already evening and if I could paddle such long distance, I can wait for one more night to bid farewell to the leader who inspired me to fight in life despite my physical limitations. I will go to the Assembly tomorrow to pay my last respect.”
Not only Das, football Olympian Sailen Manna too turned up at Peace Haven to catch a glimpse of Basu but he too was turned away. “He was a gentleman and the kind of love and respect I got from him cannot be expressed. Whenever I needed a car he used it sent it from Indira Bhavan. The last time I went to meet him he called me in by my name. Today too if he would have been alive and knew I was here to see him he would have called me in,” said 86-year-old Manna with tears in his eyes.
Asit Chatterjee, an official of Mohun Bagan Club who accompanied Manna, said, “From the moment he came to know that Jyoti Basu’s mortal remains have been kept here, he was desperate to come. Now he will have to wait for another day.”
Even though no one was allowed to enter the gates of Peace Haven, 72-year-old Arun Deb, an NRI from Basu’s favorite holiday destination – London, was allowed in. Basu is kept in drawer number 2 in the freezer at Peace Haven while Deb was placed in the one just above him.
If the claim of local resident and CPI(M) supporter Sahil Islam is true, Basu has been kept in the same drawer where his protégé and CPI(M) leader Subhas Chakraborty had been kept after his death last year.
“He came from London with his wife and went to Shillong for a holiday but died on the way due to massive heart attack. They are sharing the same freezer. It is such a strange feeling to know that my father-in-law is sharing the same freezer with the veteran Marxist leader,” said Kaveri Das.
Though there were some emotional moments but the crowd outside Peace Haven comprised mostly locals and showed no sentiments. Only passers-by would stop to find out why the place had such media presence and then walk away.
